Hayden's In Focus

AS the Hammers set about banishing the memory of Sunday's painful penalty shoot-out defeat to Sheffield United, midfielder Hayden Mullins insisted that it was important West Ham United react positively this week.

"The FA Cup is over now and we've got to put it out of our minds," he admitted. "The League was always the most important thing for us and we've got to concentrate our full attention on that now.

"We got a very important three points against Cardiff in the last Championship game and we've got to build on that with another strong display this weekend.

"Plymouth are far from an easy team to beat, which they showed at their place earlier in the season when they held us to a 1-1 draw. We've got to respond in the right way this week, stay positive and forget about the FA Cup by working as hard as we can to prepare for Saturday's game."

Although intent on looking forward rather than back, Hayden did concede that the atmosphere in the dressing-room was one of bitter disappointment after the 3-1 shoot-out defeat to the Blades.

"It was really tough for us to take," he confessed. "We know that we didn't do enough in normal time to break them down, especially when they went down to 10 men. We had a really great spell around the time that we scored when we perhaps should have gone on to win.

"But Sheffield United fought really hard in both games and when it got to penalties it could have gone either way.

"The lads were gutted after the game. We really wanted to do well in the FA Cup because it's a huge competition and one that the fans always enjoy.

"A trip to Highbury in the Fifth Round would have been a great way to reward the fans for their support. But it didn't happen and we've got to forget about that now and start focusing on the League again. We're still fighting hard to win promotion and we need a win against Plymouth."

The 1-0 win over Cardiff was a vital three points for the Hammers. It pushed us right back into Play-off contention and the 25-year-old midfielder insists that the Club must look to consolidate a Play-off position.

"Promotion is the big goal for the Club and we've got to make sure it happens," he said. "Until it's impossible for us to gain automatic promotion then we'll keep pushing. But Ipswich, Sunderland and Wigan are all going well and it may be that we have to settle for the Play-offs.

"We need to look at that as a positive though. We're more than capable of achieving promotion through the Play-offs and everyone still firmly believes that we can go up this season. It's just important that we don't get ahead of ourselves now and concentrate on just winning the next match."